One Psalm a Day--Join Me!

For the last 3 years, I’ve read one psalm a day, every day. There are 150 psalms, so when I finish Psalm 150, I start again the next day with Psalm 1.

I’ll be starting again with Psalm 1 on Easter Monday, April 10.

NOTE: I’ve not posted here on the general section of my blog since Thanksgiving—forgive the lack of content. I actually post almost every day on the Bible section of this site, but though this post is about the Bible, I’m posting it here because I wanted to draw my general readers’ attention to it. If you’re new here, know that I have 2 newsletters to which folks can subscribe: the general Andrew Forrest newsletter, which gets sent out infrequently—whenever I post something here—and my Daily Bible newsletter, which is sent out at 4:00 AM Central and offers brief commentary on that day’s scripture reading portion in whatever plan I’m currently following.

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Asbury is a Bible-Reading Church

There is a simplicity to reading one psalm every day—even if you have an early-morning flight, e.g., you can still read your psalm on your phone on the way to the airport.

I like to say that “Asbury is a Bible-reading church,” and I’ve spent my first 8 months here preaching and teaching through Genesis and Revelation, respectively. We’ll continue reading through whole books this fall, when we work through the Gospel of Matthew.

But in addition to other reading plans, I’d like the practice of reading one psalm a day, every day to become part of the Asbury culture. No matter where you are or what’s going on, you can turn to that day’s psalm—there is a simplicity and security in that. It’s also almost always a really quick read, which helps folks who feel as if they are too busy to read the Bible regularly.

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Psalms Scripture journals

We’ve ordered 10,000 of these beautiful ESV Psalms Scripture Journals from Crossway, and will be handing them out on Easter Sunday, April 9.

If you live out of town, you can order your own Psalms Scripture Journal here.

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For Psalms, My Commentary Will Be Online Only

I like to preach and teach through entire books of the Bible—otherwise, it’s easy to just fall into topical, self-help preaching. There is nothing wrong with topical, self-help preaching, unless that’s all you do, in which case I think it’s too limiting.

But with the Psalms, I will NOT be preaching through the entire book, psalm by psalm. Instead, for the next several months we’ll be changing things up and I’ll be preaching shorter, topical series, as well as having some of our associate pastors preach series of their own when I’m gone in the summer.

And because we wanted to hand out the ESV Scripture Journals (which came straight from the publisher), we are not printing any of my daily commentary to hand out—rather, my daily commentary through Psalms will be online on the Bible section of my blog—each day’s post will go live at 3:30 AM central, and for folks subscribed to my Bible newsletter, emailed out at 4:00 AM central.

So, again, if you want to receive my daily commentary through the Psalms, be sure to either check out my blog each day, or sign up and receive each post over email.

(Also, so I can get ready for the Gospel of Matthew, as well as make some progress on a few other projects, I will NOT be teaching any churchwide Bible studies on Psalms this spring. I wish I could, but I just can’t do everything! Stay tuned for Matthew this fall.)

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The Plan Going forward

After we get to the end of Psalms, we’ll start over again. And again. And again. New members at Asbury will get a Psalms Journal and be encouraged to jump in on whatever that day’s psalm is.

After this initial reading, however, we’ll focus on other reading plans and commentary—specifically the Gospel of Matthew for this fall, and then other books after that.

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Emotions Series Starts April 16!

As I mentioned above, I’m NOT going to be preaching through the Psalms this spring psalm-by-psalm; rather I’m going to be using the Psalms a jumping-off point to launch some different, topical series.

Our first series after Easter will be called Emotions. Here’s a trailer:

From our Easter bulletin:

Emotions are good things.  Like fire, in their proper place, they make our lives better.  Watch out, however: if you allow yourself to be controlled by your emotions, they will burn your life to the ground!

What’s sad is that many people in our world today never really grow up—they may look like adults, but they live like little children, constantly being controlled by their emotions.

It’s time for us to grow up, and our new series Emotions will give us practical and simple strategies to learn how to use our emotions the way God designed them to be used. New series starts after Easter!

Going to be a lot of fun.

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In conclusion: get a Psalms book and join me with Psalm 1 on Monday, April 10.

Let’s GO.

Of Pigs and Human Nature

Do you actually want to change, or would you rather wallow in the filthy status quo?

^28?And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed?men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ^29?And behold, they cried out, What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?? ^30?Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. ^31?And the demons begged him, saying, If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs. ^32?And he said to them, ?Go. So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. ^33?The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ^34?And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. (Matthew 8:28-34)

Jesus performs an astounding miracle in their village, freeing these two men from filth and misery,?and the villagers would prefer he leave than cause any more changes to the way things are.You don't think that those villagers had parts of their lives that needed healing? But rather than begging Jesus to stay and work among them, their immediate response is to beg him to leave and never come back.How true of human nature--so often we prefer the pain we know to the possibility of change.  

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"I'm Basically a Good Person"

People say that all the time: "I'm basically a good person." What I think they mean is that they are basically?moral. They don't lie or steal or cheat or murder. But, when you read the Sermon on the Mount, you see how inadequate that idea of goodness is. For Jesus, goodness is not primarily moral, but spiritual--it's about being like God, who is even kind toward those who are evil: "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).It is possible to be perfectly moral and at the same time remain selfish, contemptuous, and resentful. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is explaining that true goodness is active love toward others--it's not refraining from doing evil--it's actively doing good, even towards those who are doing evil.I've read the Sermon on the Mount many times, but each time I read it I am reminded that there is nothing else like it in all of human history.

"Immediately"

^18?While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, ?Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. [Matthew 4:18-22]

I've always thought that the calling of Andrew and Peter, James and John was a strange story, but recently I read something somewhere that made a lot of sense to me. Twice, Matthew tells us that the brothers left their nets "immediately," i.e., when Jesus calls, they respond totally: they don't hedge their bets or halfway follow him. What's Matthew trying to tell us?Either we follow Jesus, or we don't: there is no place for a half-hearted discipleship.Jesus says, "Follow me." In response, what do you need to "immediately" leave, drop, or do today?

My Bible Reading Plan for 2018

I'm going to read through the Bible in 2018, but if I'm going to make it beyond the first few pages, I know enough about myself to know that I need a good plan to follow. If I go to the gym without a plan, I'll fool around for 10 minutes and then say, "I've done enough for today--time to go home." I need to have a plan in place before?I go to the gym, and in the same way I need a plan to read the Bible, too. Otherwise, I just won't get anything done.So, here are 6 elements of my plan to read through the entire Bible in 2018.

1. The Read Scripture Plan

I'm using the READ SCRIPTURE reading plan put out by The Bible Project guys. It's roughly a Genesis to Revelation plan, though the order of some of the Old Testament books are rearranged to help you follow the narrative arc a bit better.

• The plan runs from January 1-December 24, 2018.
• Each day's reading will take about 15-20 minutes to complete.
• Every day there is 1 main reading (from either the Old Testament or New Testament, depending on where you are in the year).
• And every day there is 1 Psalm for devotional purposes.

This "Read Scripture" video from the Bible Project guys explains the plan.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hUs4TXRuVk[/embed]

2. The Read Scripture App

There is a free Read Scripture app that I'm going to use. I'm planning on doing my reading in my own Bible (more on that below), but I'm excited about also using the app to help me stay on track.

• The app includes each day's reading in a stripped-down format, so I can complete my reading right in the app, if I want.
• The app also includes a setting to include a daily reminder on my phone, and allows me to track my progress.. I'm the kind of person who likes checking things off each day, so I'll use the app for that purpose.
• As you can see in the screenshot below, the app also includes direct links to explanatory videos that are paired with a daily reading from time to time.

3. The Bible Project videos

The Read Scripture plan sometimes suggests explanatory videos to supplement a day's reading portion. (As I mentioned above, one of the benefits of the app is that it includes direct links to the videos, so you don't have to search on YouTube.) The videos the Bible Project guys are producing are REALLY GOOD. To cite one out of their dozens and dozens of really helpful videos, here is an overview of the Book of Leviticus:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvyrLXoQio[/embed]

4. A Brand-New Bible

Though I'm going to use the app to keep my on track, I'm planning on using my own Bible to complete the readings. (We're handing out bookmarks at church with a month's worth of readings at a time; here's a pdf of the January schedule.)

• I prefer to read on paper than in an app, when possible.
• I like to make notes, circle, underline, etc.
• This will be the same Bible I'll be preaching out of in 2018.

I used my Christmas money and bought a stunningly beautiful new Bible: a Cambridge Clarion Reference ESV in Black Goatskin. These Cambridge Bibles are $$$$, but they are absolutely the most beautiful books I have ever held.Here's how I decided on this particular Bible:

• I didn't need a study Bible;
• I wanted something relatively portable;
• I also wanted it big enough to have room for notes;
• I wanted cross-references (the little margin notes that tell you when the same quotation appears elsewhere in the Bible);
• I wanted an ESV translation, since it's not what I've used previously;
• And most importantly, I wanted a single-column text. All the other Bibles I own have double columns, but I thought it would be a good change to try a single column.

I eventually found myself deciding between two Bibles that met my criteria: the Cambridge Clarion ESV and the ESV Personal Reference Bible. Brad Schrum has a detailed and very helpful post with lots of pictures comparing the two. I decided on the Cambridge Clarion because it was slightly larger and I just liked the feel of it in my hand a bit more, but the ESV Personal Reference Bible was also a really good option. (If you're in the Dallas area, the bookstore at Dallas Theological Seminary has both editions, if you'd like to compare them.) If you are interested in getting a new Bible for 2018, here are two others that I've used personally for years:For a good study Bible, try The NIV Study Bible;For a nice thin Bible, try the NRSV Thinline.

5. A Bible Blog

Both on this site and on our church's Bible blog, I'll be adding thoughts from my reading. (On the church blog, my colleague Amanda will have notes for every single day of readings!) Occasional blogging will help me stay engaged with the reading.

6. The Bible Project newsletter

The Bible Project guys have a weekly newsletter than tracks along with the Read Scripture plan, offering a recap of the previous week and an overview of the coming week. I'm going to sign up on January 1. Go here to sign up; scroll down until you see the picture below. The newsletter is just one more reminder to help me stay on track--it's a marathon, not a sprint, you know?So, that's my plan to read through the Bible in 2018.I'll let you know how it goes....